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Music has always been a powerful form of expression, and often is a voice for our society and times.
Protest music has had a long history. Its origins can be traced back to slavery and freedom songs, such as “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” Folk music would adopt the protest tradition in the early 20th century with the “Little Red Songbooks” put out to “Fan the flames of discontent.”
Civil rights were an important part of protest music in the ’50s and ’60s from Pete Seger and Woody Guthrie to Billie Holiday and James Brown.
But few songs have made more powerful statements than those dealing with the ideologies of war and peace. The Vietnam War was one of the first examples of widespread vocal protest and dissent. The country was torn apart over war and the feelings of anguish, anger, and confusion found their way into popular song. Whether eloquently, as with Dylan or crudely, as with Country Joe & The Fish, artists put their thoughts and feelings on the issue at the forefront of their music.
Time has allowed us to label many of the brilliant artists of the ’60s and ’70s as classic. Protest music today is as wide-ranging as ever, focusing on issues like disease, diversity and poverty. And, despite lack of press, many musicians have already made their opinions on Iraq and the “war on terror” known.
“I fear that our true motivation is about oil and our own flailing economy; about the failure to destroy al-Qaeda and about revenge,” singer Dave Matthews said on his band’s Web site. “It is criminal to put our servicemen and women in harm’s way and to put the lives of so many civilians on the line for the misguided frustrations of the Bush administration. Bottom line: this war is wrong and this war is un-American.”
Salon.com recently featured an “Anti-War Sampler.” It features music from artists such as Ani DiFranco, the Beastie Boys, Billy Bragg and John Mellencamp speaking out against the war in Iraq. It represents a growing range of musicians who have made protest songs available for free in MP3 format on the Internet. The Clash frontman Mick Jones and former Rage Against The Machine singer Zach de la Rocha have also followed suit on their Web sites.
Rocker Lenny Kravitz recently recorded “We Want Peace” with Iraqi pop star Kadim Al Sahir, as well as Lebanese percussionist Jamey Hadded and Palestinian strings musician Simon Shaheen.
“This song for me is about more than Iraq. It is about our role as people in the world and that we all should cherish freedom and peace,” Kravitz told Rock the Vote.
R.E.M. has also been performing a new anti-war song, “The Final Straw.” System of a Down’s “Boom!,” which was written to protest the first Gulf War, has found renewed interest.
Reactions have been mixed. “We’ve played [the Beastie Boys' "In a World Gone Mad"] a few times and gotten some mixed reactions,” said Kevin Weatherly, program director at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, on the station’s Web site. “We found a lot of people interested in it and agree with where the song is coming from, and there’s some that were pissed off and didn’t think the message was necessarily one they agreed with.”
There has also been some response from musicians with a pro-war stance. Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” was written in favor of a military response after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He performed with fellow country musician Darryl Worley at a military base in Tampa Bay, Fla. and cited war protestors as “anti-American.”
Whatever their sentiment or stance, musicians continue to make their voices heard, and continue to prove music as an important element of society. Protest music continues to be an important part of American freedom of speech and opinion, and an example of a peaceful and intelligent means of dissent.
Bangor Daily News